Complex salt brines as found in saline mineral bodies, such as Searles Lake, are most difficult to separate into their salable components. Most existing processes are only adaptable for separating portions of the contained salt efficiently and usually result in the loss of what would otherwise be considered valuable salts.
With costs of processing saline mineral bodies increasing, it is evident it is becoming important to maximize the amount of salt values harvested in any one process.
Process economics have focused fresh attention on the use of solar evaporative techniques to harvest salts. While solar evaporation has long been considered a possible route to obtaining salt values from a brine, the salts normally obtained are often as equal and sometimes more complex than the salts in the original brine and no real advantage has resulted from this step, alone.
In addition, the composition of the brine has changed markedly over the years. There has been a general increase in sulfate and chloride ions due to recycle of undesired salts back to the brine. At the same time, potassium, carbonate and borate values have been decreasing due to the harvesting of glaserite, sylvite, sodium carbonate and borax.